Visualize Your Finances, Ouch!

Apparently a lot of Swedish households are having difficulties paying their bills so designer Hampus Edström created the Budget Tool to make even Suze Orman happy. His research brings some hilarity as he concludes the main problem is Swedes rarely respond to a situation unless it’s visually appealing. Hey, I’d agree with that!

The reality is people live beyond their means because they don’t have an understanding of where their money goes. In this day in age, digital money is hard to keep track of and much easier to spend. The budget tool consists of a touchscreen PDA (haven’t seen that word in awhile) and customized software to register your expenses. A physical bar diagram then dynamically changes to show income vs. expenditures – in a very minimal but typically Scandinavian way. Hey, it’s design art meant to warn when you’re about to go broke. I’ll buy into that.